Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Recently, STLE interviewed Mike Pfeifer, the instructor for the upcoming course - Principles of Metallurgy, which will take place at the 2012 STLE Annual Meeting. Listen to our interview, and you'll get an overview of the course, concepts covered, and a tip from Mike on dealing with suppliers.

This course is meant for anyone who deals with metals - either on the processing side or on the procurement side. It's even recommended for those who work with lubricants and components - so that you have a better understanding of what's going on at the interface and why metals behave the way they do, allowing you to do your job more efficiently and with a better knowledge base.

After reviewing the course material, Robert Gresham, STLE’s Director of Professional Development indicated that this was a course he wished he had when he was starting out in the industry. From his perspective as a chemist/formulator, Bob said he would’ve liked having a basic understanding of metallurgy and foundational concepts, since this would have helped him immensely in his job function. The course information would have prepared him and made it easier to understand more of what was going on in customer’s plant and helped him troubleshoot problems he encountered there. In addition, he could have used the information when he was working with design engineers to help design and build new equipment, where he was working to supply the proper lubricant system. If you have a better knowledge base of the surface you’re lubricating, you can ensure that you are providing the correct lubricant for the application. In addition, after reviewing the slides, the course appears to be very straightforward and practical – making this course ideal for obtaining concepts that you can listen and learn and take back to your work and apply immediately.

As an example of why you might need to know metallurgical concepts – there is a topic we’re hearing a lot about lately: micro-cracking found in wind turbines. Micro-cracking is a metallurgical concept, and one that can be better addressed when one has knowledge of metallurgy and the surfaces that are being impacted. So, this course's audience includes those involved in failure analysis (connect the dots from the lubricant to the substrate) as well as those who design machines (as a good review).

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STLE's Mission

"To advance the science of tribology and the practice of lubrication engineering in order to foster innovation, improve the performance of equipment and products, conserve resources and protect the environment."